


the season of melancholy

by sunfield_oota (ocoa)



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Christmas, Future Fic, Gen, Mihashi is celebrating Christmas alone because he's in the NY Mets now, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Oofuri Secret Santa 2020, Working abroad, vague mentions of what happened in Mihoshi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28364526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ocoa/pseuds/sunfield_oota
Summary: On the morning of Christmas in the 21st year of his life, Mihashi is in a foreign country, for the first time, and alone, for the first time in a long time.
Relationships: Kanou Shuugo & Mihashi Ren, Mihashi Ren & Nishiura High School Baseball Team
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	the season of melancholy

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas! This was for Oofuri Secret Santa 2020, where I was requested "Nishiura", "Kanou" and "Hamada". I ended focusing more on Kanou but there's a little bit of the rest at the end. To my secret santee, I hope you liked it :')

On the morning of the 21st Christmas in his lifetime, and the first he didn’t spend at home in Japan, Mihashi woke up and it was quiet. He’s almost disoriented by the silence, the lack of fathers shaking him awake and mothers setting up their annual Christmas breakfast only emphasizing how different his life was now. He had called his parents the day before, when it was Christmas in Japan, but they couldn’t talk for very long before Mihashi had to sleep. His coaches had told him to start adjusting his circadian rhythm as soon as possible.

Being alone in New York was even more discomforting than the language barrier. Mihashi always liked being with people, even if it made him nervous, and he hadn’t been alone since high school. Staying with the same group for that long made him apprehensive to take the leap to accept the offer, but Hanai quickly helped him make his decision.

“Don’t be stupid,” his friend said, “it’s _the_ Mets.”

But lying on his bed at 8am New York time on Christmas Day, knowing he’s a full 14 hours behind his friends and family, has made him wonder again if it was worth it.

He technically hadn’t even met his teammates yet, other than the short introduction he was allowed. They didn’t said much to him, or maybe they did, and he was too busy struggling with meeting so many people at once. It’s very overwhelming, even with the tricks Shiga-sensei taught him to manage his anxiety it still affected him.

Remembering it again made him cringe into himself. He didn’t even know if he gets it right, he’s still learning English.

He decided to give up and reached for his phone.

The Nishiura text group was full of messages. Christmas was the rare time all of them could usually meet, and they had to be midways into the reunion. He wouldn’t want to disturb them. Instead, he pressed the next most recent chat, and before he could regret anything, sent the message.

_You: Shuu-chan, are you free to talk?_

God, he’s probably busy with his family or something. Mihashi’s so stupid, he shouldn’t have disturbed-

His phone started to ring.

Mihashi let out a yelp, almost dropping his phone, before he shakily answers the call. There’s a beeping sound in the background, a car reversing.

_“Ren? What’s up?”_

Mihashi’s throat tightens up, and the swell of _I miss you_ caught in between his chest and esophagus.

_“Ren?”_

“Hey Shuu-chan.”

_“…Are you okay?”_ Mihashi stayed quiet, not knowing how to explain, but Kanou misinterpreted it, “ _did you get hurt? If they hurt you, let me know and I’ll come down and-”_

“No! I…I’m okay, I just wanted to…” _Talk to someone, make sure they haven’t forgotten me, make sure I still have my place, make sure I’m not making a mistake._ “Are you driving?”

“ _I’m on speaker. Are you sure you’re okay?”_

“I…” Mihashi blinked rapidly, suddenly finding his vision blurring, “I miss you. And everyone.”

There was silence, before Kanou speaks. “ _I miss you too. Remember when we had our first Christmas after we met? I was an asshole._ _Asked you why your Christmas rituals were so weird, when your parents were too busy working.”_

Mihashi does remember it, or at least parts of it. It was during the first few years of his life, when he would spend Christmas at the Hamada’s while his parents worked, so the first actual Christmas he had after meeting his grandfather, he asked what the tree was for, or why they weren’t sewing up their old clothes for the New Year’s. Kanou’s mom scolded him for asking, which was why he started crying, and Mihashi thought playing baseball would help.

(Technically it did, but he doubted it would work for all children.)

They spent that whole day pitching at the board Mihashi’s grandfather set up the moment he realized his grandchildren loved baseball. It was a silly game, a tiny competition that would count how accurately they could pitch at the board. But it was that competition that had cemented their friendship.

“That was fun.”

“ _It was. Even if you kept beating me. That was how I knew you were a fantastic pitcher, even…even if everyone else at Mihoshi didn’t.”_

The reminder of his middle school resurfaced an old ache, but it was long enough ago that he doesn’t feel the same hurt he used to.

He could hear the sound of a car’s engine switching off. “ _Listen, Ren. I know you tell me not to all the time, but this time is the last. I’m sorry.”_

Mihashi’s reflexive _it’s okay_ was cut off by Kanou continuing.

“ _It’s not okay. I should have done better. You’re important to me, Ren. Not just as a rival. Because you’re my friend. I should have protected you. I saw how you were like in that last year, and I…didn’t._ ”

Mihashi looked down onto his lap. Slowly, carefully, he spoke. “You’re important to me too, Shuu-chan. I never blamed you for it, because I know you tried to talk to them. You need to forgive yourself, more than I need to forgive you. I’m already more than happy that we can be friends again.” He smiled when he heard a sound through Kanou’s end. “Shuu-chan, are you crying?”

“ _Don’t laugh at me._ ” His voice hitched midway through the sentence, which only prompted Mihashi to laugh harder, until his shoulders were shaking from the force in which he kept his amusement quiet.

“Are you at home?”

“ _Yeah, I’m parked._ ”

“Wouldn’t want you to cry while driving.” 

“ _Shush.”_ Something dinged, the sound of an elevator.

“I should let you get home,” He said, leaning his head on his knee. “Merry Christmas, Shuu-chan. Rest well.”

“ _Merry Christmas, Ren. Call me again, whenever you want to. I think I have some movies we could watch over Skype._ ”

He smiled, put down the phone, already feeling the weight in his chest lightening. His eyes burned slightly, and he thought to himself, _I shouldn’t have made fun of Shuu-chan._

He scrolled down the messages from the chat, laughed at the squabbling Tajima and Izumi still had even though they had been friends for years. As he did, a single photo popped up, a picture of the whole group, with Momokan and Shiga-sensei and everyone. And him.

He supposed if there was anyone who would print out a life-sized cutout of him, it would be Tajima. The man in questioned had his arm swung over the cutout’s shoulder, grinning. The number 1 scrawled over the front of the cutout’s jersey was emphasized by Izumi’s finger that pointed at it. Hanai clearly looked embarrassed to be around them, and Oki looked half tipsy and leaned against Suyama’s shoulder. The messages flowed quickly after that.

_Yuuto: We missed you Ren!_

_Shintarou: Take time off and come see us when you can._

_Fumiki: Don’t forget about us just cos you’ve got new teammates >:(((( _

_Shouji: I sent some of the chocolates you liked along with your mom’s package, hopefully it doesn’t get confiscated lololol_

_Shouji: Kazu’s too drunk, but he says that Takaya’s bullying him again, so come back to visit and put him back in his place_

_Takaya: I’m not! I just told him to not drink so much. If he gets a hangover, I’m not helping him mark his essays for Classic Lit_

_Takaya: Also, Ren, your place here will always be here, come back any time you want. I’ll always catch for you_

_Takaya: but don’t overwork yourself, or pitch too much, or overexert yourself_

_Takaya: and don’t get injured or I’ll come to America myself_

_Chiyo: Translation: Takaya misses you_

_Yuu-kun: ^_

_Hanai-kun: ^_

_Shouji: ^_

_Fumiki: ^_

_Yuuto: ^_

_Kousuke: ^!!!_

_Kazutoshi: %’7%_

_Hama-chan: good effort_

_Hama-chan: also ^^^^^^^^^_

_Takaya: I hate all of you._

Mihashi couldn’t help but laugh, wiping at his eyes, and again, and again. He set his phone’s wallpaper to the picture they sent, chest warming.

Yeah. He _really_ shouldn’t have made fun of Kanou. 


End file.
